Tasion pulls back petition against Benjamin

Islands

Businessman Sam Tasion has withdrawn his election petition against Manus Governor Charlie Benjamin.
Tasion said the withdrawal was for the best interest of the people of Manus and to allow the governor to be free to lead and focus on the development of the province.
He said he would instruct his lawyers to attend to the matter so that he would also concentrate on running his business and assisting wherever he could.
Tasion urged all others to also work closely with the Government of the day.
“In the end we all want development and to prosper the lives of our people. While we are unhappy with the many decisions of the Electoral Commission and the many allegations of foul play, at the end of the day the people have spoken and we just have to wait for the coming elections,” he said.
“However, having said that I call on the Electoral Commission to learn lessons from all reports of election evaluation and work hard to ensure we don’t repeat the same mistakes of the past and bring this election process into disrepute.
Bad precedents have been set and these must be cleared before the next election. ”
Tasion said the election evaluation workshop held in Manus last month revealed many wrongs by the Electoral Commission.
He also called on the governor to vigorously pursue fisheries and tourism as the key business prospects for the province.